County, city government must toughen dating policies

Revelations involving Licking County Prosecutor Ken Oswalt and a longtime employee, with whom he had a romantic relationship, have cast attention on the issue of office romance and its effect in the workplace.

An Equal Employment Opportunity Commission complaint against the prosecutor and a member of his staff by the now-former employee - one accusing the men of sexual harassment and retaliation - was filed by the woman earlier this year. The relationship began shortly after she joined the prosecutor's office in 2000 and ended in 2006. The complaint came to public attention recently as a result of Advocate reporting.

The EEOC is not commenting on the status of the complaint. The prosecutor has strongly denied the allegations have merit. He has not, however, denied the reality of the relationship.

Licking County government had no prohibitions in place circa 2000 to explicitly discourage or prevent a supervisor from dating an employee under his or her direct report.

Thirteen years later, Licking County government still has no formal policy prohibiting supervisors from dating subordinates. Department heads currently are permitted, by and large, to set policy within their own offices.

This is unacceptable in terms of responsible business practices, or by any standard of personal professional conduct.

In the private sector, a supervisor's pursuit of romance with an employee under his or her direct supervision could result in dismissal. As reported in Aug. 25's Advocate, the private sector generally is quite aggressive in discouraging and dealing with such relationships as they become known.

State Farm and Park National Bank both are based in Licking County, and each has in place an unambiguous policy prohibiting supervisors from dating direct employees.

Such policies are key to deflecting potentially devastating consequences and legal jeopardy for office leaders and their public or private employers.

We were therefore further disappointed to learn stringent policies against such romances are lacking not just in the county offices, but also in Newark city government. The city has adopted a sexual harassment policy, but like the county, Newark has no rules preventing supervisors from dating subordinates.

Newark Human Resources Director Mike Buskirk has stated his intention to explore creation of such a policy with Mayor Jeff Hall and his cabinet.

But Hall has indicated he's not inclined to pursue that course. "You can kind of get too many rules on the books sometimes," Hall said. "I don't see us taking action."

We strongly urge Hall to reconsider that position.

As we have seen in this most recent case involving a locally elected official, supervisors dating employees can set the stage for allegations of conflict of interest, favoritism and retaliation. At very least, such relationships muddy the waters for other employees in range of the romance, creating the potential for a charged, morale-threatening work environment.

Privately-held businesses are rightly rigorous in discouraging such relationships for all of these reasons.

As taxpayers, we have every right to expect our public officials to conduct themselves with at least as much professionalism as their private sector counterparts.

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County, city government must toughen dating policies

Revelations involving Licking County Prosecutor Ken Oswalt and a longtime employee, with whom he had a romantic relationship, have cast attention on the issue of office romance and its effect in the